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This Week at First

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9 AM Contemporary

10:30 AM Traditional

April 14th: Doubts



April 14th – The Third Sunday of Easter: There is no getting around it. Doubt is a part of the human experience. You would think the early disciples, who witnessed first-hand the miracles of Jesus and who heard him say on several occasions he would rise form the dead, would be anticipating his resurrection. But NO! They doubted. But Jesus himself came to them to reassure them of the truth of his resurrection. Do you doubt? Can you receive the same kind of reassurance the disciples received? Our message will be “Doubts,” based on 1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48.


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

1 John 3:1-7

 3 1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  2 Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he[a] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.  3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

 

4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.  5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.  6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.  7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  


 

Luke 24:36b-48


36 Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”[a]  37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.  38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”  40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.[b]  41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”  42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,  43 and he took it and ate in their presence.

 

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”  45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,  46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah[c] is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,  47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  48 You are witnesses[d] of these things.  


 






9am Service



10:30am Service




April 7th: Let the Past be the Past



April 7th – Second Sunday of Easter: This week, we will focus on the instructions Jesus gave his disciples concerning forgiveness. How do we live out a life of forgiveness and grace when there is so much hate all around us? For answers, we will look to two different Johns, 1 John 1:1-2:2 and John 20:19-31. Our message will be “Let the Past Be the Past.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

1 John 1:1-2:2

The Word of Life

1 We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—  2 this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—  3 we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.  4 We are writing these things so that our[a] joy may be complete.

 

God Is Light

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.  6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true;  7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;  2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.


 

John 20:19-31


Jesus Appears to the Disciples

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

 

Jesus and Thomas

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin[a]), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

 

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”  28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

 

The Purpose of This Book

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  31 But these are written so that you may come to believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah,[c] the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.


 






9am Service



10:30am Service



March 31st: Easter Sunday Services



March 31st, Easter Sunday: We will celebrate Easter with three services. The first will be held outdoors (weather permitting – in case of bad weather we will worship in the Seltzer Lodge) at the Seltzer Retreat Center on Lindbergh Drive. The time will be 6:30 AM. The service location allows participants to watch the sunrise over the cross. The message will be based on Mark’s account of the resurrection and will be titled “Mixed Emotions.”


Our 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM services will be celebrated at our Birch Street Campus in the sanctuary. The message will be based on both Acts 10:34-43 and John 20:1-18 and is titled “A Message for All People.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

Acts 10:34-43

Gentiles Hear the Good News

34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,  35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.  36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.  37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:  38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;  40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,  41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.  43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”


 

John 20:1-18


The Resurrection of Jesus

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.  4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,  7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.  8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;  9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.  10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.

 

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look[a] into the tomb;  12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.  13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).  17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.


 





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